Skip to content Forums, instant messaging, and multiplayer video games all started here. PLATO IV Terminal, ca. 1972-74. Credit: University of Illinois Archives PLATO IV Terminal, ca. 1972-74. Credit: University of Illinois Archives Bright graphics, a touchscreen, a speech synthesizer, messaging apps, games, and educational software—no, it's not your kid's iPad. This is the mid-1970s, and you're using PLATO. Far from its comparatively primitive contemporaries of teletypes and punch cards, PLATO ...